On Saturday, a bit bizarre news appeared: residents of a street in Stara Pazova protested the installation of a 5G antenna in their neighborhood. They are asking the municipality to regulate the installation of this equipment, to move it away from houses because, they say, referring to information from the World Health Organization, there is still not enough information to indicate that the radiation of the 5G base station is safe.
When surveys are conducted on the streets of Serbia with questions about the 5G network, most of the answers boil down to the words "harmful", "carcinogenic" and "bad for humans". When asked why - because that's what people say.
This network has long been one of the most common topics on disinformation platforms. Conspiracy theorists simply adore her. In some inexplicable way, it became a kind of symbol of "Western colonialism", "chipping", "controlling people", "radiation" and other accompanying content.
"Biological weapons"
In telecommunications, the 5G network is the fifth generation of the technological standard that should replace the currently current fourth generation and provide users with a higher speed of downloading data on the Internet. Basically, as before, the field of action is divided into smaller geographical areas called cells, and within it the devices connect to the Internet and the telephone network by radio waves through a local antenna in the cell.
What can indicate here that the 5G network is dangerous? The short answer is - nothing. So why do people believe it?
Conspiracy theories about the 5G network have existed since the very beginning of the development of this technology, but they experienced a real boom during the corona virus pandemic. Namely, conspiracy theorists believe that the 5G network also causes the corona virus, while on the other hand they believe that this virus is actually a biological weapon. Then the 5G network also comes to him as a biological weapon.
According to research, the 5G network was first linked to the corona virus on an obscure French portal Rabid sheep. The avalanche started after that and spread to other language areas via social networks. The American software company that also deals with public opinion research, "Zignal Labs", conducted a survey at the beginning of 2020 on misinformation on social networks regarding the corona virus. The claim that the 5G network was causing it was elsewhere.
"A weapon system designed for global depopulation"
Misinformation about the 5G network mainly circulates on obscure portals and social networks, mostly on Telegram. Therefore, it is necessary to map the dominant narratives, key actors and channels for disseminating disinformation, determine whether there are campaigns, but also the ideological background of the false narrative.
When you start mapping the breeding grounds of misinformation and unverified "studies" about the 5G network in Serbia, you quickly identify the prevailing narratives. Misinformation dominates that due to the expansion of the 5G network, there has been an increase in people suffering from "microwave radiation". It is claimed that this network causes "extreme neurological damage", and narratives are spreading that "5G is a weapon system designed for global depopulation", citing various pseudo-experts.
Of course, there is also talk of "magnetization" which is allegedly spread by radio waves, and which has long been associated with vaccines against the corona virus.
Nurseries
We have identified several key actors who channel this content here, and the dominant platforms are Telegram and YouTube. The Zero Point portal, whose Telegram channel has almost 22.000 members, is one of the biggest propagators of conspiracy theories about the 5G network. Behind the portal is Mario Bojić, the author of the "Mario Zna" podcast, which is followed by about 115.000 people on YouTube. This portal and podcast are generators not only of false information and unverified studies about 5G networks, but also about the corona virus in general, migrants, the new world order, the conspiracy of the West, etc.
Branimir Nestorović, the leader of the electoral coalition "We - the voice of the people", is happy to see the source of these channels. As a guest in the aforementioned podcast, he spoke about "setting up 5G networks" and "humanity's greatest experiment".
The Telegram group "Antiglobalists" is also very active in "warning" about the harmfulness of the 5G network. She is close to the association of citizens "Doctors and Parents for Science and Ethics", which became known for treating the corona virus through Viber groups, opposed to immunization and calling for the use of untested drugs. Almost 3000 members can discuss different conspiracy theories every day.
There is also the SrbinInfo portal, the Telegram group "Discussion Migrants", which was created as an extension of the People's Patrol, where members can participate in the discussion, as well as the "New Age of Old Warriors" group, which also spreads misinformation on this topic. There are a number of YouTube channels where guests talk about anything and everything, including the alleged harm of the 5G network. Among them is BalkanInfo. Some shows were watched by hundreds of thousands of people.
The modus operandi is largely similar. Authors, or readers involved in the discussion, refer to various studies that support their theories. As a rule, these are unreliable sources, the findings can be distorted and misinterpreted, or the studies and foreign experts they cite do not exist at all.
Social network analysis tools show a high level of interaction between groups and channels that share similar content. That's how disinformation spreads massively, even on platforms that aren't necessarily obsessed with conspiracy theories.
However, we cannot talk about organized campaigns to spread misinformation about 5G networks in Serbia, but they are created and transmitted arbitrarily, out of the conviction of terrorist conspiracies, mostly ideologically right-oriented.
At the end of the day, the results of the December elections show that this phenomenon long ago outgrew the pub discussion of a handful of like-minded people and took on serious proportions.
